FLORIDA.


of the co
papers a
and soon
rapidly 1
warm an


d. Slippers and easy coats are donned, pipes and
e produced, cards and dominoes are called for;
without formal introductions, the passengers are
becoming friends (and what friendships are so
Sunreserved as those formed on a sea-voyage ?).


 Next morning land is nowhere to be seen; you are out
on the vasty deep, and quite likely it is a surprise to you to
find that it is so smooth and calm. Very many people on
their first sea-voyage allow their imaginations to be stimu-
lated and their apprehensions aroused by the accounts which
they then recall of terrible storms and waves mountain-
high," of plunging and straining ships, of iron-bound and
dangerous coasts, and the like; but while all these things
are possible, yet, like the possible frightful railway accident,
they are seldom seen or experienced. In spite of the general
impression to the contrary, the weather along the Atlantic


coast of America is nearly
writer has made several p
Hatteras, and each time
like a journey on an inla
were mirror-like in their
by no means a rare one,
in regard to that cape
Moreover, even should "


Always fair and
,assages around
had the good f
nd lake. Each
smoothness, and
has produced a
)f so many disa
rough weather"


agreeable. The
the famous Cape
fortune to find it
time the waters
this experience,
skeptical feeling
greeable stories.
be encountered,


the worst to be feared is an acute attack of the mal-de-mer,
and a prolongation of the time consumed by the voyage.
Of downright danger there may be said to be none, such a
thing as a serious accident to one of these stanch coast-
wise steamers being among the rarest of occurrences.
 The second day, schools of porpoises begin to appear,
flying-fish and jelly-fish are often to be seen, occasional
glimpses of the coast to the west are obtained, and the
polite officers are kept busy pointing out and giving the
names of the tall, warning lighthouses that are almost con-
stantly in sight. At Port Royal a short stay is made, the